


touch id: a little bit of you

by lategenocide



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: M/M, esports but the writer only knows about china, hyunjae is snarky, hyunjae plays short distance, it started with an interview, sangyeon awkward?, sangyeon plays long distance, they are vice captains, they have a rivalry, using esports training to fall in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lategenocide/pseuds/lategenocide
Summary: Juyeon sat up from his bed, scoffed, and said in a tone that was suspiciously incredulous, “Why? Because the Grimoire Song Club is the other half of the magazine bonus and you can’t handle being civil with Hyunjae for three hours?”“I’m perfectly capable of being professional,” Sangyeon gritted it out.Juyeon smiled, wild and wolfish, “Not professional enough to put up with it. Remember who made us such bitter rivals with Grimore?”“Shut up, Juyeon.”( or: the bitter rivalry is mostly sangyeon's fault, but it's not like he's into people who prefer the backstage. )
Relationships: Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Lee Sangyeon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: TBZ Secret Santa Exchange 2020





	touch id: a little bit of you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [126916912](https://archiveofourown.org/users/126916912/gifts).



> hi! uh. so esports.............. i know very minimal about esports and it's mostly chinese concepts of it, so if anything is weird, sorry. this was written for my tbz secret Santa ^^

“There is absolutely no way I’m doing this interview,” Sangyeon announced to the grand total of two people in the dorm room, Juyeon- who was scrolling through his phone, and Younghoon, who was dead asleep. In his arms was his laptop, made mostly for watching too many documentaries in the little free time the team had.

Juyeon sat up from his bed, scoffed, and said in a tone that was suspiciously incredulous, “Why? Because the Grimoire Song Club is the other half of the magazine bonus and you can’t handle being civil with Hyunjae for three hours?”

“I’m perfectly capable of being professional,” Sangyeon gritted it out. 

Juyeon smiled, wild and wolfish, “Not professional enough to put up with it. Remember  _ who _ made us such bitter rivals with Grimore?”

“Shut up, Juyeon.”

Juyeon  _ was _ right though, but Sangyeon had about zero intention of facing it. He hadn’t thought a friendly, although public series matches with the Grimoire Song members on River Lores just a few days before the first matches of the season would have the public speculating the strength of both parties involved. It had just begun as something that he and Hyunjae casually talked about over private chat. They hadn’t been the best of friends, but they were friendly enough for players of vastly different teams. The fact Polar Juke had beaten Grimoire Song by the narrowest margin possible only flamed the intense rivalry that had suddenly arisen, shattering any professional friendliness. 

Needless to say, whatever public appearance with any of the team members so much as a few meters together created buzz from both club’s die-hard fans. Whether it was the hatred or the excitement was debatable. Personally, Sangyeon wasn’t into it, although it was one way to be getting more attention in the Esports world. None of them had too long of a career life if one considered the demands of Esports compared to other careers, so most would take what they had.

“I’m right, and you know it,” Juyeon replied, flopping back onto his bed with a smirk. 

“Don’t act like you like Grimore,” Sangyeon gritted. As much as he appreciated his team, sometimes Juyeon was a pain in the ass for his denial. 

“I don’t, but I know how to be professional. It’ll be beneficial for both of us, so why not?” Juyeon replied, being the logical voice that Sangyeon didn’t want him to be. Of course, it was the perfect opportunity to be even more known than they already were ( although, not to _brag_ , their team was already well known for being a three-time champion, which was pretty good for them ), which was basically what their team leader would want. As much as Sangyeon perfectly despised the idea, he also couldn’t say that it wasn’t a perfect opportunity. 

Finally, he settled for a half-hearted, “I hate you,” tossing his sack of a body onto his bed. He played with the edges of the blankets as he wriggled under them without getting up. 

Juyen snorted, reaching for the light switch, “You can’t.”

Sangyeon liked all of his teammates fine, so he couldn’t argue with that.

  
  
  


The building the three of them ( Juyeon, Sangyeon, and Eric ) entered, one by one was clearly meant specifically to host a magazine studio. Sangyeon counted more dressing rooms than he could fit on his fingers and toes before they reached the waiting area, wherein all of three of them quickly spread out, claiming spaces on the couches and chairs. They had arrived earlier than the usual expected time and were now simply waiting for the staff to finish up one last meeting.

“Remember to at least try to be civil,” their team leader- Choi Sunghoon- repeated for the third time in the last fifteen minutes. “The whole point of this is so that you’re more comfortable with each other during the interviews.” he slanted a sharp glance in Sangyeon’s way, clearly warning him off of Hyunjae. 

“Yes sir,” they- Sangyeon included- all chorused. With one last glare, Sunghoon rattled off pairings ( again ). This time, Sangyeon didn’t jump when Hyunjae’s name was called in conjunction with his; the people running the magazine probably saw their animosity as a great way to earn money. From a marketing perspective, Sangyeon couldn’t blame them, but he silently gritted his teeth and internally said a quick curse anyway. At least Juyeon had the guile to look sympathetic since last night. Eric had the nerve to snicker ( for the second time ), though it quickly turned into complaining when Sangyeon grabbed him by the collar to give his head a hard rub.

All of it quickly faded with the heavy knock on the door, jolting the entire team out of their usual goofiness. The Grimore’s top three filed inside behind their team leader, with their captain- Choi San- staring stonily back at the unreadable gazes of the top three Polar Juke team. 

If Sangyeon reached out, he was pretty sure he would be able to  _ touch _ all of the tension in the air. After all, he was pretty sure none of this would be happening if their team leaders were not once fuck buddies. ( So that was only a  _ rumor _ , but no one would- or could- stare at Choi Sunghoon so openly with such intensity without getting their face cut open unless there was history between them. Or so they say. )

Behind San was the Vice-Captain, Hyunjae. Unlike San, his stare was much less piercing and simply heavy and detached- it lingered on Sangyeon, to which he raised a silent eyebrow, but it moved on, to Sangyeon’s relief. Their team leader, Han Yuhwan made a beeline for Sunghoon while San made the coursey nod towards Juyeon before their team seemed to relax, but they didn’t sit down. 

“Everyone should take the time to get to know their partner,” Sunghoon said. “Get to know each other, they’ll be around soon.” for a few seconds, the intensity ramped up several notches. And then San made towards Juyeon, who stared up at him with the laziest smile Sangyeon ever seen him produce in daily schedules, and then he was shaking San’s hand with something politer in him. 

The room deflated and Eric was suddenly pushing Sangyeon towards Hyunjae, bouncing with fake enthusiasm towards Sunwoo. He barely had any time to glare or complain before he skidded to a stop a safe distance from Hyunjae’s cool eyes. 

“Why’d it have to be you?” Hyunjae asked, not as polite as his captain.

Sangyeon scowled, “Go ahead and ask the magazine staff that same question.” Hyunjae scoffs distaste in his direction, but he doesn’t poke at the subject again.

Instead, he takes the bucket hat off his light brown hair, and runs his hand through his light brown hair, the yellow tinted light from the ceiling tinted it a slight glow. Sangyeon pretended without little convincing power that he hadn’t been staring. He didn’t know Hyunjae well, being friendly with other teams and being friends were totally different things in the industry, and Sangyeon had enough experience to understand the differences. 

Unlike their silence, Eric and Sunwoo were warming up to each other ( he was sure Eric muttered something under his breath that sounded like “I can’t believe you just live in a pigsty” ), while San and Juyeon were having some mild leader to leader conversation. Sangyeon had nothing to say to Hyunjae, not when the urge to bite bubbled in his throat every time any semblance of conversation came up between them. Sunghoon had been glaring at him for the last two minutes, but Sangyeon refused to budge, and Hyunjae seemed as set on not speaking as he did. He couldn’t think of anything remotely nice to say other than some lame, “your hair is nice,” and he wasn’t about to be complimenting Lee Jaehyun out of all people. 

Anyway.

The staff file in and grab them by the pairs several minutes later, saving Sangyeon from death via glaring by the millisecond. He gets pushed in front of racks of clothes.

“Choose some clothes for each other,” the stylist said brightly. “It’s part of the program.” that last part sounded more like Sunghoon bribed her into forcing them into interacting and this was the best she could come up with than the truth, but Sangyeon had no time to question it. She had disappeared before he could even think to open his mouth.

“Don’t force me to wear something ugly, and I won’t make you look like shit,” Hyunjae said immediately. Sangyeon hooks a corner of his mouth up mordaciously.

“Go ahead and take the words out of my mouth, why don’t you?” he commented. Hyunjae flicked his gaze back to the rack of cloth pieces. 

“Didn’t need to,” he replied, pulling out a jacket. He tossed it on a chair, along with a belt. 

Sangyeon knew they wouldn’t let them wear their typical clothing on an interview, but it all still seemed rather fancy for simple esports players. Maybe he just didn’t understand anything beyond anything relevant to playing the games. 

They ended up somehow mutually selecting accepting outfits, although their ideas in clothing were as different as the monopoly board game and cards against humanity. 

On one hand, Sangyeon’s pieces were a pastel tie-dye  the kind you could find at the beginning of quarantine with some white loose pants and some harness that went over the thighs. Much like in daily life, Sangyeon was particularly creative in his choices, and he saw the curl of distaste Hyunjae’s lips before it was gone. But Hyunjae decided it was perfectly acceptable to put together a suit jacket with a tightly cinched belt at the waist- at least the undershirt was an opaque black, and the pants were a similarly dark color of navy. 

“They’re going to think you’re making me cosplay as you,” Sangyeon remarked, looking at the clothes Hyunjae put him in. 

“At least you won’t look homeless,” Hyunjae retorted, tugging at his pastel tie-dye hoodie. Sangyeon felt there was nothing wrong with his preference in clothing- it certainly was a lot easier to move around in than the kind of clothes Hyunjae would’ve chosen. 

“Shut up Lee Jaehyun,” Sangyeon replied with nothing else to say. 

Hyunjae mouthed his words in the most mocking way he could, and then said, “Creative, aren’t you?”

“At least I listen to my captain,” Sangyeon bit back, dimly aware it was one of Hyunjae’s sore spots- as much raw talent he was, he had a tenancy to ignore San’s orders and go off in some buck wild impulses of his own. Most of the time, it helped them win, but nonetheless, he was often ripped apart by the other pros for it. It would be especially worse in a crucial game, even more so if they hadn’t won it. 

Hyunjae seemed to bristle for a moment, then stilled, “It won us the spring tournament.” 

A tense, heavy silence fell upon them. Sangyeon bit his lip, and then said, “Right, sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Whatever. It’s true anyway.”

Hyunjae turned away from Sangyeon and tugged the leg harness to a comfortable position as the makeup artists filed into the room after he opened the door to their inquisitive knocks. 

  
  
  


They didn’t talk again until interviews rolled around. 

The interviewers seated them right next to each other, and Sangyeon wondered, not for the first time if capitalism was always this polished and drilled. It was kind of clear the interviewers had been practicing their questions and follow up reactions for at least several hours beforehand. In other words, Sangyeon felt like he was being interrogated about his life for any evidence of his incompetence in his esports career ( which they shouldn’t put so much work into, inviting him to interview and all- the internet was free ).

The interviewers stared between them like they expected to start a catfight any second, but the closest to that expectation was awkward smiles and random bouts of tense silence before Sangyeon slid a look Hyunjae’s way and spoke as normally as possible. Whenever that happened, the interviewer’s eyes lit up, looking awfully like sharks leaning towards their prey. The first time, Sangyeon had wondered if he had imagined it, but the second time, he slid a look towards Hyunjae, and there was an annoying understanding between them- Sangyeon wasn’t surprised to note the corruption in capitalism. 

“Now, let’s talk about the championship that’s coming up in a few months. Last year, Polar Juke won the title. Are your teams preparing to have another rematch?” the interviewer’s smile was a little too similar to a piranha’s to be comfortable, but so was Hyunjae’s return smile. 

“Isn’t that a question for our captains?” he drawled. Even with the pastel hoodie and loose white pants, he still managed to look somewhat domineering in them. “I mean it’s obvious, of course, we’re preparing for rematches, just like every other year.”

And here it was, Hyunjae’s biting tongue in its glory. Sangyeon maintained his polite front, but even he couldn’t hide the slightly amused glimmer in his eyes. 

“I believe both our teams will be excited for a rematch after a year. We’re all very competitive in this field, after all,” Sangyeon followed up. With a faint smile. 

“Very excited to win the championship,” Hyunjae pipped up recklessly, saying probably exactly like the thing his captain would warn him against saying. San had an ego ( who didn’t? ) but he was also tactful. Not Hyunjae’s ( or for that matter, Sangyeon’s, but it was becoming clear that his grasp on it was much more refined than Hyunjae’s ). The interviewer pounced, hungry after being given little to nothing to sensationalize.

“Really? Are you confident that you’ll nag the championship this year?” she asked. On Hyunjae’s face was a smile, but none of it reflected in his eyes. Sangyeon wondered yet again if capitalism was always this corrupted and well prepared for. 

It was actually attractive though if Sangyeon could be honest about it. Something about the charismatic lean of his body forwards and the perfectly timed pauses reminded him of a movie, and he was the audience drawn in by his performance. It was with the detachment and immersion of an audience that Sangyeon had observed the entire interview. It was just a small detail, but by the time the interview was aired, their collective fans were pouring over it. 

Sangyeon caught a glimpse of San and Juyeon watching from afar as Hyunjae said, “Obviously.” 

  
  
  


In short, the interview was just another capitalist scheme, one that put a noticeable bonus in Sangyeon’s salary, but a capitalist scheme nonetheless. 

After the last question ( any goals for the near future? ) and their respective answers ( something boring about improving for future competitions ), the camera paused its recording to the visible relief of Sangyeon’s back. He slid off the chair, shaking hands with the interviewer all the while quietly hoping he didn’t have to do this ever again. 

“I’m never coming back,” Hyunjae commented once the interviewer was just out of earshot. “I hate her.” it sounded bratty, but Sangyeon agreed.

“It’s just a one-time thing, “ Sangyen replied lightly. “They have other teams to bother.”

“They could’ve simply not made us interview together,” Hyunjae retorted. He did a turn of the corner as he pulled off the pastel hoodie, revealing the white t-shirt underneath it. 

Sangyeon thought about the night before, and then said, very thoughtfully and all, “At least you’re not dead.” which seemed whole exaggerated for simply appearing on TV for a painful ten or so minutes, but Hyunjae seemed to have little appreciation for the empty comfort, but he laughed, just to be a little bit nice. 

“Whatever,” he glanced at Sangyeon. “I’m going to win this year.”

“No, you’re not.” Sangyeon bit back immediately. He pressed his lips together, wondering it would be rude to smile. It probably wasn't, but the temptation to do so had already faded. 

Hyunjae raised his eyebrows, to which Sangyeon thought him unfair because he was just being unfairly attractive. This was probably Willaim Shakespeare's kind of tragic queerbaiting on his part, but Hyunjae  _ was _ pretty, in his defense. 

“We’ll see,” he said. “I know I can beat you in a one-on-one fight.” He probably could, because Sangyeon, unfortunately, was self-aware that his abilities fell short of Hyunjae’s by inches, or about enough that luck would always come into play if he ever had to fight him one-on-one. It was one of those sensitive weaknesses that he couldn’t quite make up for, despite all the trying he did. Unfortunately, it was part of the reason their team just barely snagged the championship where they could’ve won by a larger margin. Little details. 

Sangyeon made sure to pretend he didn’t have that specific weakness though, “Yeah right,” the scoff was fake, and the curl of Hyunjae’s lips seemed to see right through him. It was uncomfortable, but Sangyeon was raised in toxic masculinity and had a pretty good idea of how to bluff through it anyway. Never say that toxic masculinity did not have its uses, you just had to change your mindset and use the parts that suited your agenda. 

He thought he was going to bluff through it- and he nearly failed when Hyunjae leaned towards him, “Prove it then. There’s an internet cafe right down the road.”

Sangyeon was never one to refuse a challenge, so he said, maybe a little impulsively, “Okay.”

  
  
  


And that was how he somehow managed to spend three hours in the cafe with Hyunjae. So far. Hyunjae had bested him about four times and he had bested Hyunjae about three times. Juyeon didn’t bother sticking around because he knew Sangyeon’s tricks like the back of his hand and San was driving Sunwoo back to their management dorms. Eric had a not-date with Felix at the arcade, and so somehow, Sangyeon and Hyunjae managed to not hurt each other’s feelings and turn everything into a nasty verbal fight in that three hours. 

A record, really. 

He was busy dodging Hyunjae’s greek fire, shuffling his avatar up a rock to dock up an arrow into the chest of Hyunjae’s avatar when the other suddenly said, “You play better than I expected.”

“Thanks?” Sangyeon replied, uncertain of how he should be answering that remark. 

Hyunjae took an arrow to the chest but didn’t quite die yet. His health was running low, “I think you know what I mean; you’re worse at competition.” it was true. 

“Stagefright.”

“You’ve been in esports for four years, but you still have stage fright?’ Hyunjae looked up momentarily from his screen- rookie mistake, but Sangyeon took it. He put one more arrow through him ( an enchanted one this time ) and the screen darkened, signaling his win. They were now tied in score.

Sangyeon let go of his mouse, “I just never got over it for some reason.”

“Try deep breaths,” Hyunjae suggested lazily. “Just don’t worry so much about the outside influences. The spectators don’t matter.”

“What are you, my therapist?” Sangyeon leaned back into the seat, glancing at Hyunjae around the privacy walls. 

“You’re welcome for the dose of common sense.”

“Thanks,” Sangyeon replied ungratefully.

  
  
  


It ended up being about three and a half hours before they called it quits, and about four hours before the realization that his head was still miraculously intact hit Sangyeon ( ironically ) in the head. It was both funny and awe inspiring, how his heart was still beating, which really goes to just show how low his standards were for people he was hanging out with. He looked at Hyunjae, studying his side profile in about the same light he had seen his side profile before, but this time, it was tinged with wonder. 

“You didn’t murder me,” Sangyeon said out loud before his brain could process the sentence and decide whether or not it was a good idea to be said into the universe, garnering at least one confused look from the boba dealer. 

Hyunjae took straws from the counter for both of them, “Did you want me to?” he handed Sangyeon a straw.

“Don’t, Juyeon already called dibs,” he replied as the boba barista slid over their orders. He took the drink, stabbing his straw into the plastic lid. 

“A pity,” Hyunjae said lazily. 

Sangyeon stayed silent as they walked out the shop. The road was still busy- was only about five pm after all. Neither of them said anything, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Sangyeon had a lot of thoughts to sort through, one of which was what he was going to eat for breakfast tomorrow. He hadn’t decided yet, but it was probably going to be a piece of toast with yogurt milk. Kind of a pity to be eating the same breakfast every day.

At the intersection, Sangyeon turned to Hyunjae, “I’ll go back to my dorms. It was fun doing one-on-one with you,” he reached up to rub at the back of his neck without thinking about it, unsure of what to say, other than the common courtesies. They got along well, much like post-rivalry. He wasn't sure why that had caught him off guard as if there hadn’t been a base dynamic between them before the mess went down. 

“I think so too. You have my ID, right? We can play sometime again,” Hyunjae replied lightly. He framed it carefully, as a suggestion, treading a line now that it felt weirdly loud between them.

“Yeah. I’ll… message you if I need a dungeon partner,” Sangyeon said, half uncertain, half-bashful. They acted like the two of them were standing on thin wires above a rolling sea, and any move too jarring would send them plummeting towards death. 

“Right,” Hyunjae coughed. “Ah, uh, have a good night.” Sangyeon raised his boba half-heartedly.

“Good night.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope y'all liked it ^^


End file.
